


Heartbreak Hotel

by disappointedattheworld



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Canon Divergence - Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), POV Nick Fury, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-24 22:47:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16649314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disappointedattheworld/pseuds/disappointedattheworld
Summary: The plot doesn't really make sense unless you know these facts:- Bucky escapes HYDRA in the eighties- Bucky spends that time honing his skills and being a merc- He meets Wade Wilson in the mercenary business, and they become the best of friends- This is an opposite world in which Thanos' snap killed the wrong half of the universe- The rest of the plot (maybe?) makes sense





	Heartbreak Hotel

They needed a super soldier. They needed brains and brawns. They needed Captain America, but Captain America was dead in the Arctic. They’re next best bet was the Winter Soldier.

“Bring him in. Alive”

They dragged the Soldier into base half a decade later. Agent Romanoff and her team had to subdue him so that he was nearly a vegetable. The fight itself took less than an hour- it was just that they couldn’t find him. Agent Barton had sneered at their attempts, believing that the soldier was only a ghost story, but now he just stared as Romanoff shot him a smirk.

“Why did you capture me? What are you gaining out of this?”

“I’ll be asking the questions, soldier”

“Ask away”

“Will you harm us if we release your restraints?”

“Yes”

“Good to know. Now, you’re probably wondering why you’re here”

“ _Probably?_ "

“You’re here because I want to negotiate under civil circumstances with you”

“Last time I checked, civil circumstances do not include cuffing someone to a-a metal chair”

“Well, you know, times change. I’m here to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative”

“You mean that dumbass team of ‘superheroes’ you’re assembling?”

“Last resort”

“And you want me to join your boy band?”

“To aid it, yes”

“Nah. I’m good where I am”

“You’re a mass murderer”

“Excuse me! I only ever assassinate one person. The citizens were collateral damage”

“I’m not letting you leave without a negotiation”

“I know”

“We wanted Captain America”

“… And you got stuck with me instead. It’s okay. I wouldn’t want to be stuck with me either. But I’m still not working for you”

“Can I tempt you with wealth?”

“No”

“Anything at all?”

“No”

“The book”

“What?”

“Your trigger words. We know them”

“Why didn’t you use it in the first place then?”

“I told you: we were being civil”

“Ah. So that’s how it is”

“That’s how it is. You never act against Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division, and you keep control of your head”

“Whew. That’s a mouthful”

“So will you join my boy band?”

“How about no?”

“Zhelaniye. Rzhavyy. Semnadtsat. Rassvet. Pech. Devyat…”

“Stop”

“Let me ask you again. Will you join us?”

“Yes. Fine. Just stop”

“Welcome to the Avengers Initiative, soldier”

The soldier disappeared after that. The next year, Tony Stark was kidnapped. Everybody suspected the soldier, but none of them would voice it.

“Fury. I have a hunch”

“Oh yeah?”

“The Winter Soldier kidnapped Stark”

Nobody except Romanoff, apparently. Barton nodded along with her. Fury almost smiled. “No he didn’t”

“How would you know? Sir” Barton added hastily.

“Because as of two hours ago, the soldier was sent on his next mission”

“No.”

“Yes, Agent Romanoff.”

“You’re sending the Winter Soldier of all people to search for Tony Stark. You’re condemning Stark to a very painful death”

“The soldier has never failed a mission”

“There’s a first time for everything, Fury. Thank you for your time” she strutted away, Barton at her heels.

Stark eventually reappeared as Iron Man. Of course, S.H.I.E.L.D. used their usual tactics (mainly bribing and blackmailing) to stop Stark from outing himself to the world. In his days of recovery, Stark would not shut up about how the Winter Soldier’s metal arm was beautiful enough to fuck.

An assassin clad in black murdered Obadiah Stane in his room. Fury smiled as he saw the security tape, where the soldier gave the camera the bird.

“Romanoff. As you can see, the soldier is beneficial to our cause”

“Rushman, actually. Natalie Rushman”

“Of course, Miss Rushman. How silly of me”

“How silly of you, indeed”

Two years after the events of Afghanistan, Stark’s palladium poisoning worsens. Then, Stark takes another adventure that probably belongs in a movie, and he’s back.

“Coulson. What do you want?”

“Would you believe me if I told you that the Winter Soldier is James Buchanan Barnes?”

“Innocent until proven guilty”

“Uh, sir, I’m pretty sure you’re using that line wrong”

“Let’s hope he isn’t Barnes”

It turns out that the soldier is Barnes. Or rather, _was_ Barnes. According to Agent Coulson, this modern Barnes was acting nothing like 1940s Barnes.

“Are you really Bucky Barnes? I’ve got a vintage Howling Commandos trading cards, and you’re in some of them too”

“That’s nice and all, but if you’d excuse me, I need to see Fury”

“But-“

“I need to see Fury”

“Okay. Right”

2011 came and went with nothing but several aliens showing up. And a hammer with magical properties was in New Mexico. Coulson and Barton were put on the case, much to the dismay of Romanoff, who would be going overseas.

2012 was bad. It was the first time they actually needed the Avengers, and things were not going as Fury planned. Romanoff’s visit to Banner was slightly aggressive, but it turned out that Banner and Stark got along immensely. Fury dumped them in a room to see how the team communicated. Their first meeting as a whole team went something like this:

Barton, gesturing wildly, said “The fucking Winter Soldier is in our team?”. Stark tapped something into his phone, ignoring all of them.

“Apparently so. I can work with that” Romanoff replied, giving Barnes a once-over.

“I taught you how to work with that, Natalia” he replied, and Romanoff stilled.

“You were there. The Red Room”

“Yeah. Don’t you remember me? I taught everything you know” Barnes leaned against the wall smugly.

“Not everything” Romanoff recovered from her sudden paleness, holding herself higher.

Banner watched the scene unfold with thinly veiled interest. There was silence for a few minutes, and Fury debated whether to let them out. Suddenly, Stark snapped his head up, staring at Barnes.

“You’re Sergeant Bucky Barnes”

“James Barnes, please” Barnes looked at him, a cold mask settling over his features. Barnes had, until this point, been quite open with his emotions.

“But you are” Stark looked wonderingly at him, eyes straying to the metal arm.

“I want to tell you something very important, Stark. Something that’s going to affect our relationship”

“… Yeah?” Stark asked suspiciously, bracing himself.

“I totes killed your parents”

“Did you just say totes?”

“I said that I killed your parents, and that’s what you decide to mention?”

“You. You killed my parents? My parents died in a car crash, though” Stark furrowed his eyebrows, trying to put the pieces together. Fury wanted popcorn. Shit was going to get real.

“Yeah. Your parents died on December sixteenth, 1991. I killed them”

“Oh shit. You’re serious” Barton gasped. Barnes just nodded.

Tony started turning red. “Please tell me that you’re not completely serious before I blast your beautiful arm off”

“Pfft, sure. As if you could”

“Don’t test me, Barnes” Stark growled, reaching for the suit.

“Sike!” Barnes shouted, startling everyone.

“That was not funny” Stark snarled, crossing his arms.

“It wasn’t supposed to be. Now you know how I felt when you told me I was... him”

“Him?”

“Sergeant Barnes. I’m not him. I don’t remember being him”

“But you remember your time as the Winter Soldier” Romanoff interrupted. Barnes shrugged, playing with his fingers.

“I guess it comes in bits”

“So you don’t remember Steve Rogers at all?” this was the first time Banner spoke, and all eyes went to him. He flushed a little, glancing around.

“All I know about him comes from a museum. He’s dead, anyway” Barnes shrugged again, blinking at the question.

“I guess soulmates don’t exist after all” Banner settled with that.

“Soulmates? Steve and I were together?”

Stark crowed out a “Ha, I knew he was him!” but everyone ignored him.

“Uh, no, but you might as well have been. From everything the Howling Commandos have said, you guys appeared to be joined at the hip”

“Great” was heard all around and the conversation ended.

Fury patted himself on the back after the battle of New York. The Avengers learned to fight in a team really quickly, and Loki barely got started before he was poofed off to Asgard by Thor. Nobody even died. All in all, it was a boring battle.

Shit only got real in 2013, when SHIELD dug up Captain America from the ice. Barnes talked about Steve Rogers so much that you’d think he’d be overjoyed. Instead, from the moment Rogers opened his eyes, Barnes made himself scarce, and nobody had the heart to tell Rogers that he scared his best friend away.

The Mandarin and Malekith happened around the same time, and SHIELD dubbed them “M&M”. Two weeks after those events, Alexander Pierce’s head was on Fury’s doorstep, with a note saying “your welcome”. He decided to trust Barnes, and it turned out that 40% of SHIELD was corrupted. Project Insight was immediately aborted. Rogers didn’t even realise what was happening.

Rogers was welcomed into the Avengers with open arms, although he and Stark clashed at first. Nobody let it slip that Barnes was in any way or form related to them.

That incident with Ultron came to pass without any sign of Barnes. Rogers proved his worth, and the media charged at him with full force. Pepper Potts took over that ordeal, reminding Fury that Stark had truly chosen a wonderful CEO.

“Captain Rogers, what do you think of the 21st century?”

“Captain! How do you feel about replacing the Winter Soldier?”

“Sir, how do you like this century?”

“Mr. Rogers! Do you miss the good old days?”

After all Rogers had heard about “replacing” a teammate, he finally confronted Stark.

“Tony, who’s the Winter Soldier?”

“Uh, I’m kinda busy right now, so”

“Tony”

“Look, Steve. I don’t think I’m qualified to tell you this. Natasha would be a better option”

“Tony”

“Fine! Damn you and your eyebrows of disappointment”

Rogers didn’t take the news well. For a year, he scoured every inch of the globe for Barnes, but it was as if he poofed off the face of the Earth. To be honest, Fury kind of thought that Barnes was chilling on Mars with a piña colada.

The incident with Crossbones in Lagos prompted the UN to wrangled the enhanced under the Sokovia Accords. The team was split from that, and things were made worse when “James Buchanan Barnes” bombed the Vienna International Centre. King T’Challa swore to avenge his father, and set out on a mad hunt for Barnes.

Fury didn’t think that Barnes would be found. It took his best agents five years to do that.

“Bucky”

“Who the hell is Bucky?”

Barnes finally allowed Romanoff to find him. He had lived for three years under the alias George Smith, creating such an intricate backstory of his life that even the police had records if his arrest when doing the chicken dance along a busy road while drinking in college.

“We’re not gonna hurt you, Buck”

“I know SHIELD ain’t gonna hurt me. I don’t know about you, pal”

Needless to say, Rogers was still hurting from the blow. Wilson, Rogers’ buddy, asked him about it.

“What do you have against Steve?”

“Nothing”

“You’re never that rude to any of the others, though”

“His buttons are the only ones I know how to push. Except Tony’s and Natalia’s. But I need them, so”

“And you don’t need Steve?”

“I’ve survived for seventy years without him”

“It hasn’t been seventy years for him”

“… Does it look like I care?”

Fury was a witness of the conversation, and he could confirm that Barnes’ face looked like he was going through severe constipation.

“I don’t know, Sam. What did I do wrong? Maybe I was being too familiar. It has been over seventy years for him”

“Naw, man. Barnes is probably just shit these days. I’m sure he holds nothing against you”

“Oh god. What if he thought that I pushed him off the train?”

“… Nah”

Fury, meanwhile, was busy in the interrogation room. He had a sudden bout of déjà vu, seeing Barnes shackled to that same metal chair. Barnes grinned savagely.

“What are you gaining out of this?”

“I’ll be asking the questions, soldier”

“Ask away”

“Will you harm us if we release your restraints?”

“… No, I think not”

“Good. Did you bomb Vienna?”

“No. I don’t do that anymore”

“How do I know that you’re telling the truth?”

“Huh. I guess you don’t”

“Zhelaniye. Rzhavyy. Semnadtsat. Rassvet. Pech. Devyat…”

“No. No, please”

“… Dobroserdechnyy. Vozvrashcheniye na rodinu. Odin. Gruzovoy vagon. Soldier?”

“Ya gotov otvechat”

“Mission report: June 22nd, 2016”

T’Challa was called, and Fury proved Barnes’ innocence. The UN and Potts made a compromise, which everyone agreed to. Stark was just thankful that it didn’t end up in a fight.

“You know what we could have called the fight, though? The American Civil War”

“That’s not a good joke, Tony”

After that was over, Barnes went back little hidey-hole somewhere in Bucharest, ignoring the protests of Stark. He hugged Romanoff though, which was much more that what Rogers got. Rogers ended up sulking, following George Smith’s every account on everything possible. Barnes only sent a poop emoji back.

Two years later, Thanos came. Fury didn’t know the details- just that Stark, Spider-man, and Strange went up into the alien warship. Rogers, Romanoff, Barton, Wilson, Lang, King T’Challa, Banner, and Maximoff stayed to defend Earth. Romanoff looked for Barnes in Bucharest, but he had disappeared.

“Did you find him?”

“He left”

“Of course he did”

“He’s a coward”

“That’s not what I meant”

“I know. But your Bucky’s a coward all the same”

“He’s not. You haven’t met him from before the war”

“He’s not the same person, Steve”

“I’m not the same person either”

Barnes didn’t emerge at all. No Winter Soldier sightings. When everything went to shit, Fury had no way of knowing if Barnes had turned to dust or not. If only he had Carol Danvers on speed dial.

Rogers and Stark were gone. Half the universe was gone. The Avengers had finally met their match. It was sort of sad seeing Spider-man mope around. And Barnes still hasn’t shown. Fury thought Barnes may be gone.

“Fury?”

“Sergeant Barnes”

“James”

“James. We need your help”

“I know”

“Why aren’t you here, then?”

“I can’t”

“What does that mean?”

“I physically cannot go to you”

“Why?”

“I’m stuck”

“In where?”

“I’m stuck with Deadpool. He’s so annoying”

“So why can’t you come?”

“He’s on his deathbed. I can’t leave a friend alone to die like that”

“That’s ironic”

“Excuse me?"

“Forget it. How long has he been on his deathbed?”

“… A few weeks. He sort of crumbles to dust, and regenerates with just enough time to beg me to stay before he crumbles again. It’s pretty sad”

“Ah, I see”

“So, yeah. I can’t help you right now. I’ll do my best to crush the giant grape after Wade allows me to leave”

“Thank you for your- ah- efforts”

“No problem. See you around”

Barnes burst into the Triskelion half a day later, bloodshot eyes scouring the crowd. Fury managed to push through, dragging Captain America’s shield behind him.

“Where is he?” They both knew whom Barnes meant.

“I thought you didn’t care”

“No- I- I don’t know. I _don’t_ care. I don’t.”

“You don’t need to pretend, James” Barnes turned his head, eyeing every crevice as if Rogers would be hiding.

“But where is he?”

“He’s gone,” Fury thinned his lips, handing Barnes the shield. “I need you to take it up”

Barnes let out the most heartbreaking mewl when he saw the shield. “It’s my fault. It’s all my fault. I should’ve- I should’ve-“

“What could you have done?”

“Let him in. Oh my god, I didn’t even say goodbye. Oh my god.”

“We can get him back, you know” Originally, Fury wanted to make Barnes suffer more. But that mewl was more heartbreaking than sad kittens.

“Please. I’ll do anything. I’ll do everything to get him back”

“Then welcome to the fucking Guardians of the Galaxy”


End file.
